Mommy's Bed

In the morning, Gabriel often asks to go to "Mommy's. Bed?" Now I have two little boys to cuddle in the morning. Groggily.

This is the silly kid. He eyed Israel's hat yesterday, and had to grab one of his own to wear to eat, along with his "cool" glasses. What a poser. He gets this "secretly pleased with myself" look on his face, and can't quite hide his grin.














Gives new meaning to "snug as a bug in a rug". This is Israel at 7 days old.














Israel in his cradle.

In other trivial news, this is Israel's due date today! Instead, we've enjoyed the pleasure of his company for a whole week now. Also, the nice thing is that my maternity leave does still not officially start for another week. Heh heh heh. I am workin' the system, folks, workin' the system... :)

Israel Caleb Miller

Israel Caleb Miller was born on October 15, 2006 at 9:34 PM. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 21 1/2 inches long.

He is now 4 days old, and is doing wonderfully. He has been a great eater - we went to the doctor today and he was 8 lbs 4 oz. She gave him a seal of approval - except for his bilirubin - he is somewhat jaundiced, and we get to go back in tomorrow morning to recheck his levels.

Gabe is doing great with him. He seems to like him, and wants to hold him sometimes, and often wants to give him "hugs and kisses". He also likes to rub his hair. Life is adjusting pretty well for him, despite a few bumps here and there. It's been sort of a wild ride of people for Gabe, when Grandma and Granddaddy Beery and Grandpa and Grandma Miller and Uncle Rusty and Aunt Lynette came to visit last weekend, and then Mommy and Daddy sort of disappeared for a few days, and then everybody went home, but Grandma was here, and then "the new new baby" was here, and Mommy and Daddy were back home.... Phew. But he loves having Grandma here, and the new baby is pretty good too. :)

I am feeling pretty good...and usually pretty tired. Israel wakes up about every 2-3 hours to eat at night, but THANKFULLY goes back to sleep afterwards. The worst part is the wrenching myself out of my nice warm bed to change his diaper. It's very nice to be able to lay flat again in bed, and to only look 4 months pregnant instead of 14 months pregnant. :) (The abs need some work, lets say...) I am SO INCREDIBLY GLAD that Mom is here to help - it is so wonderful to have somebody else feed me great food and help out everywhere - I am not sure what in the world we would do without her.

So that's the latest...I'll try to keep updating pictures!

Carrie

"The Latest"

So here's "the latest" in baby news. Dilated 3 cm, 75% effaced (!!), baby is at station -2 (which means he is low). So folks, anytime, that's all I'm saying. I actually thought he was coming today, but apparently he is not, as I am still at home and it is 11:30 at night. :) Lots of irregular contractions today, though. And not the most comfy of ones, either. Will keep you posted....

Preggo

One

Sometimes, One despairs a bit, because One doesn't seem to fit into any of One's clothes any longer. ("Buy the size you were before you were pregnant", the sage little labels advise. Hah. I'm not sure how that works out in the favor of anyone but the marketer.) So, sometimes, One wears rather odd conglomerations of clothes...say, for example, to go to Kroger's at 10:30 at night to buy some cider and grapefruit...and One simply just doesn't care how One looks. She just waddles happily away, filling her cravings, oblivious and unconcerned.

WAAHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!

Praise the Lord, Hallelujah!!!!!! My 4 month work marathon is OVER!!!! Today was the last day I had to work to get all of my holidays off, and now I don't have to go back until the third or fourth week in January. Seriously, it is a HUGE feeling of relief!!! I am taking, like, four days in a row off now, to get all my OTHER stuff done that I have been itching to do and just whittling away on. And to spend time with my precious little son!!!!

No baby yet...just getting bigger and bigGER and BIGGER....

My Shorn Son

SOMEBODY'S Daddy is just a little clipper-happy. That's all I'm saying. So AFTER the haircut he tells me "Well, I was missing the #2 guard." So he uses the very shortest one. I have a hard time keeping my son in hair.

So I went to the doctor again on Wednesday. Everything still looks good. She could tell by just feeling my stomach that he has a lot of amniotic fluid. She estimated him to be about 6 1/2 lbs when he is born, also, which is just what the other doctor said last week. Three more days to go, baby, and then you can come. I'm already past working Christmas. Now I'm just aiming at not working New Years. So far, so good. I think he has dropped some, though. And Mom said there is a full moon on Saturday, and that does have some effect on causing labor.... I am working Sunday, though, so labor won't suit me that day. :)

Now. To brag on my husband. My husband is such a good daddy. He does such a good job at taking care of Gabriel while I am working, and lately, when I've been absolutely exhausted when I get home, he uncomplainingly keeps going, and gives him a bath if I don't have energy, and does all the "getting" it takes to get Gabe to bed. (I'm serious. These days I feel like a huge ponderous dinosaur swinging his neck futiley, watching the zippy little rapscallions buzz around him...way too burdensome to give chase. Gabe is the zippiest little rapscallion ever after his bath. You have to chase him to get diapers on him, lotion on him, clothes on him, toothbrushed...) The other day, after Tim had been totally immersed in school stuff all day - schoolwork all morning, class all afternoon, we went out to Cici's Pizza for supper just for a fun family thing, and then stopped at the church to pick up Tim's car. Gabe thought we were there to let him play drums and he cried and cried as we drove home. Tim hunted down the church key, and drove him back, just so he could play a little while - just because he loves him. Now that is a loving daddy. He is very patient and lets Gabe play with his guitars, and takes him outside to play, even when he doesn't really want to...I married such a great guy.

In other news, my son is BIG into chocolate. BIG. Silence in the kitchen = Gabe in the candy drawer. He has this particular affinity for these dark Dove chocolates that Norm bought the other weekend when they were here, and comes out of the kitchen with chocolate dripping down his chin, and another chocolate clutched tightly in his sweaty palm. What a goof. He must be related to his mother.

36 weeks 2 days

I went to the doctor again today, and he said that I am 1-2 centimeters dilated, and not very effaced. He said he thinks this will be a bigger baby than Gabriel was - I believe it!! He estimated 6 1/2 lbs, I think, when he comes. I asked if the fact that I'm not too dilated means I should make it through another 12 days without having it, and he said that he wouldn't bet a lot of money on it, but that I might. Huh.

So now I'm down to having appointments every week. Bleccchhh. Oh well. I'm grateful to God that everything has gone as it should so far in this pregnancy. I'm looking forward to seeing the new little sugarpie...

Funder and Ditenin'

The other night we had a BIG storm here in KY. I think Louisville got 8-10" of rain, and about 4 people died in the Lexington area from flooding. The storm started right before Gabe's bedtime with random quietish thunder and occasional lightening. Gabe has this combined fascination with and fear of lightening and thunder. It is the only thing that he has been consistently worried about. We talked about the lightening and thunder during our bedtime routine, and he seemed ok, but when we went to put him to bed, he clung onto me, and did NOT want to go into bed all by himself with the unpredictable thunder and lightening outside. So Tim and I decided to go to bed early since we were both tired anyways, and took him over to our bed. It ended up being him still chattering away about the "funder and ditenin' " while we were both basically on the very edge of exhausted sleep. He fell asleep around 11:30, right before the real storm hit. The next morning, he woke up talking about the lightening and thunder too. I was glad he could fall asleep feeling safe and secure, instead of alone and worried in his crib.

In other Gabe news - man, that kid is growing! It always surprises me when his 18 month clothes don't really fit right. He is a "2T"-er. He weighs 26 pounds, and he really seems to have gotten taller. He is at such an adorable stage; I see why people like this 2 year bit, with his little words and baby face. He is such a parrot - he repeats everything you say. He likes to cuddle, and really is a good boy who listens. He now has a sense of things being "funny" or "silly". It surprised me the other day when he told me I was being silly when I was doing something.

The puppets that Grandma Carol and Aunt Lynette gave him continue to hold this fascination for him. We have been sort of surprised to see how he interacts with them, like they are people. Even when we are just using our own voices, his eyes sort of light up, and he gets this sort of shy delight on his face when they are "talking" to him, and he has these little conversations with them, and responds to them, and gives them things. It would be fun to take him to see a puppet show, if he likes things like that so much.

Sometimes when he is going to bed, he asks for me to sit in the chair beside his bed. Now, this might be ok if he was a child that fell asleep in 5 minutes, but it takes him a while to fall asleep usually anyways, and often if he has me sitting there, it is just fodder for delight and jumping around and talking. Plus...I get so INCREDIBLY ANTSY after I've been sitting there about 3 minutes, especially if I have been working all day. The nice thing is that when I tell him I'm going to go sit in the chair "out there" (office, living room), that still seems to pacify him. I guess he understands that I'm not far away. Tonight he wanted to go lay in "Mama's bed", but when I told him that he needed to sleep in his own bed, and that Mommy would be right outside the door and would come in if he needed her, he repeated that several times "outside door", and was fine when I left. I'm really glad that makes things ok for him, because it is a drag and a half to sit for an indefinite period in the room of a child who doesn't show any sign of going to sleep anytime soon.

We actually had to rearrange his bedtime routine in the past week, because he was having a lot of trouble going to sleep, and after I put him to bed one night around 10:15 and he stayed up until about 12:30 yelling and grouching, we decided things MUST CHANGE. Now, we do not let him watch TV or play football after his bath, but do quiet things like read books. Instead of leaving the hall light on, which he used to prefer, now I try to make it as dark and night-like back there in his corner of the house as I can. We also make sure he has a very good snack before bed - I think that was one reason he was having trouble before; even though he would have his before-bed milk, I think he needed something more. And bedtime has been SO MUCH BETTER that it is amazing. It is so much nicer when he goes to sleep ok, because it actually gives us an evening.

Belly Shelf

Today I felt rather bruised-tired when I woke up this morning. My eyes had these big dark circles under them, which has to do with a combination of 4 12-hour shifts in one week, 3 of those in a row ending yesterday, and forgetting to take my prenatal vitamins. (But I took them today, Mom.) I did get a very good nap in this afternoon, though, and currently feel much better.

I had a slight panic attack yesterday when I realized that I am now 36 weeks pregnant (you would think that I would be intelligent enough to realize that 36 weeks comes after 35 weeks), because that means I am one week away from being term, and I just don't feel quite ready!!!! There is stuff I still have to do with the house, there is money I still need to earn (that I will be just fine with if I don't have the baby for another week), and most importantly, there are holidays to be avoided. Seriously, this is sort of a moderate stressor for me right now for some reason. 14 more days. If I can not have this baby for another 14 days, I don't have to go back to work until Jan. 27 or so. Otherwise, it sort of throws everything else off, and I could end up with my first day back being Christmas or New Years. When you think about me, pray that I can make it that far. Life will still be fine if it happens otherwise, but boy, what a bummer. I'm probably going to work myself into going into labor by being so concerned about NOT going into labor. :) Knowing my luck.

Here's another example of my luck: This morning, for the first time, I wore this brand-new long sleeved shirt I got from Gap when I was pregnant last time, when I miscarried. I absolutely LOVE this shirt. It is really soft off-white cotton, with these little pearly beads around the neck. It is very "me". I would put a picture on, except that it is currently in the wash. Yes, indeed, read my lips. "IN THE WASH". Combine wonderful new WHITE shirt, with pregnant, nose-bleeding lady. Oh, yes, you heard me right. Of ALL the things to get on my new shirt, how about a nice spray of blood. Wonderous. Amazingly, though, I think it actually all came out, thanks to Mom and "Esther's Cookbook". And I had had such a good time parading around in my new shirt this morning... :)

That was kind of like my other beloved shirt that I got all sorts of compliments on - it is a really light cotton yellow with flowers and little sequiny things that just pushed all my happy buttons, that I was planning to handwash and lovingly gently lay down to dry...and then dear husband threw my fragile little shirt into the wash with all sorts of growly mean colors and textures...and it just hasn't been the same since. :(

Or my "perfect shade of blue" shirt that I ROUTINELY drop food on every single time I wear it. I never knew I was such a messy eater!!! My belly is this perfect little food-catching shelf. Speaking of belly shelf, check this out:














Last night I plopped down in the office with my new magazine and my little bowl of apples and automatically set my apples on top of my stomach for easy access - before I realized what I did. I thought it was pretty funny. I refer to my stomach as my "kitty shelf", after it served such a nice purpose when I was holding mom's new kitty a few weeks ago. :) Hey, doesn't my stomach look massive in this picture? Now can you understand my whining? :)

My goodness. Carrie has been such a chatterer this evening. At least it's been about such IMPORTANT life issues...I'm sure everyone feels challenged and inspired. I'd better go cook some macaroni and cheese now. From a box. Man, I'm a mom to admire.

El Hugeo Pregnant Bellyo

In the above photo, let me show you the hugest belly in the world. I am so pregnant the skin on my stomach literally aches from being so stretched. I am WAY bigger than I ever was with Gabriel…which makes me a mite apprehensive as to exactly how big this child is going to be. Seeing as I’m the one who gets to deliver it, and all.

I get ALL SORTS of comments on my stomach all the time, ranging from one extreme to the other. I have people tell me I am SO LITTLE, and other people on the same day tell me that there is no way I am making it to my due date because I look too pregnant. I’ve had one woman ask me if I was anorexic (Sigh. No.), but after she saw me eat lunch she informed me that I eat more that she thought I would. Thanks for that. I had one guy the other day at church tell me that I looked more pudgy this time. :) Oh, man, thanks!! That is JUST what a woman wants to hear. :) I had somebody yesterday tell me I looked so great , but I had one nurse tell me the other week that “Not to be rude, but I was the weirdest looking pregnant person” that she had ever seen, since I was carrying low. Oh, that’s nice, too. :) SO many people inform me, after seeing me one time, that I have dropped. And I’m like – um, actually, no I haven’t, but I’ll just smile and accept your opinion. The hilarity of it all is that most of these people have either just met me, or I have seen only a few times. A pregnant belly is a hot topic of conversation.

Poor Gabe doesn’t remember he used to be able to fit in Mom’s lap, without all the squirming and readjusting to make himself comfortable.

As long as I can make it three more weeks from today, I don’t have to work any holidays. I’m sure I’ll make it, honestly. I’ll probably go over my due date. Even though I feel vastly huge, I will honestly be surprised if he comes early, just because most babies don’t.

Thirty-five weeks, three days, and counting...

We had a great weekend last week when Ama Carol and Papa Norm and Aunt Lynette and Uncle Rusty came to visit from IN and Chicago. We had a very good time just spending time together.























This was the first that Gabe had seen Lynette and Rusty since they left for Thailand last August (?) I believe. He loved having everybody there – he could hardly contain himself at times! Aunt Lynette and Ama Carol introduced him to the world of hand puppets – he now has a tiger one and a crazy red fuzzy bird one that squeaks and it’s tongue rolls out. Gabe was just not too sure about these new developments – they were a bit alarming. It took a while before he would come close to them.























He could also hardly go down for a nap. It took a soothing read by Uncle Rusty to put him fast asleep.

Birthday Party

Last night, we had Gabriel's birthday party with Tim's college friends. Gabe had a great time - he got to have PIZZA, and CHIPS, and POP, and STRAWBERRIES, and CAKE, with CANDLES to blow out (twice) and ICECREAM, and then there were presents just for him (he got two books from us, and we had already given him a football, and some bubbles that were really pretty nifty, he thought; and Tim's friends got him a remote-controlled little John Deer combine and some cute little Levi's), and there were boys to horse around with and swing him all around, and BALLOONS!!!!! The balloons, the combine, and the guests seemed to be his favorite experiences of the evening.

This was actually Gabriel's second birthday party; we went to VA for a few days over Labor Day for the first time this summer!! and had a little party for him with just us and Mom and Dad and his Uncle Quentin. He got to eat some rib-eye steaks and have some birthday cupcake. "Cuppa-Cake?", he says. And have wide-eyed delight at the sight of his new tricycle.














Then, Tim drove home to KY to start school, and I took Gabe up to Ohio for a chiropractic appointment by myself. I was kind of looking forward to spending the alone time with him - I have been working so much recently and I feel like I hardly get to see him anymore. I was looking forward to it being just Mommy and Gabriel having some bonding time. We had a good time...although I tell you what, I am so glad not to be a single parent!! Gabe is going through these stages of "now I am holding Mommy's hand and now I am letting my knees bend and am sagging to the floor to be dragged along the ground just because I think it would be fun". Or "now I am at Walmart and feel I must lay down on the tile floor". Or "this floor needs a good lick". We were in a public bathroom on the way home when Gabe decided, after getting his hands washed, that due to the lack of paper towels, the nice dry floor would be a good alternative drying method. Yes. Lovely. It's just hard to be 8 months pregnant, lugging a purse and a variety of baby items, and to be diving around after a curious child that is a whole lot closer to the floor than I. Makes me grateful that he has an agile, very non-pregnant Daddy. :)

While we were in Ohio we went to the Belmont County Fair, just for something fun to do. Gabe squeaked in under the admission price cutoff - you had to pay $7 for any child over 24 months, and he was 2 days shy of that! :) Whoo-hoo! That also meant that I got to go on rides with him for free - after buying a $5 ticket for him, of course. They like taking your money at a fair. But he had a GREAT time. He wanted to ride the little cars that go around in a circle, while the child wildly spins the steering wheel, and so I let him; I wasn't sure if he would get scared or not being by himself as the cars whizzed around, but every time he whirled past, he gave me this huge delighted grin. It was precious.















After that we went on the merry-go-round, and he thought that was pretty special, and then he wanted to go jump in one of those big inflatable jumpy things, and had a great time. He was so little in there with all these slightly larger kids that it made me cringe a little bit as everyone careened around, but he paid it no mind. Then we staggered off (the staggerer being myself carrying him and his stroller and my purse, as he associated going into the stroller with going home and wept desperate tears at the thought) to the livestock part to view the chickens (fascinating), the cows (absorbing), the "piggies" (which he had never seen before), the goats (pretty nifty), and best of all - the BUNNIES. Oh, the bunnies. Wonderful bunnies. He had to get out of the stroller that I had finally coaxed him into and walk all around and check out the cages again for himself, and talk about the empty cages, and pet the angora bunny that someone was holding. I mean, it was great to enter Bunny World. He would have gladly stayed at the fair for much longer than Mommy physically could. I was so TIRED after lugging him around and manuvering the stroller...but I was really glad we went! It made his evening.














One of his other trip highlights was the purchase of a football at Walmart. We had went in to get some necessities and he caught sight of a two big, inflatable footballs used for some promotional thing, and became mildly obsessed over them. Gabriel LOVES football. He loves to watch Tim's X-Box football game demo and hurl himself around the living room with any available ball. So, I couldn't resist - I bought him an early birthday present of a football. We went back to the toy section to get it, and once he had hold of it, he was NOT letting go. When we got up to the front of the store, and I tried to give it to the cashier to pay for it, he cried and cried and cried (after a one hour nap that day - that always makes things quite devastating), and so she came around to scan it. Poor boy!! :) So guess what we watched for three days in the hotel room - and it wouldn't be anything of my choosing. That's right. Football. Or tennis. Anything with a ball. It makes me curious if he will always like sports like he does now. He is a very physical little boy; he loves to crash into things, and bounce off your legs, and fall on the floor, and physically experience life.

So, anyways, that's a catch-up on Gabriel's life recently. Even though our little trip together was a mite arduous, it really helped me feel reconnected with him. Doing all the little, mundane tasks it takes to take care of him; changing diapers, baths, getting his meals and snacks - add up to an intimacy that makes me sad to have to miss again when I jump back into madly working to pay to afford to take time off of work when this next baby is born. I often come home too beat to muster up much of the energy it takes to chase him around doing the nighttime caretaking. Bath to bedtime is one of the most energetic times of the day, as he is not at all into the idea, generally. Tim has really appreciated getting to experience that part of life with him this summer though - there probably won't be another child that he is able to spend several months on end with like he has with Gabriel this summer. That day to day intimacy is a precious part of raising a child.

The last night we were in Ohio, he didn't want to go to sleep, so I lifted him into bed beside me, much to his delight, and he trilled away as he lay happily on the pillows next to his mommy, talking about the light on the smoke-detector, and wanting to sing "Mommy Loves Her Baby", and reminiscing on bunnies, chickens, and the like. He lay all tucked up against me, watching my face while I sang to him, and singing along...I'm serious, it was absolutely adorable. I finally lifted a limp, drowsy little boy back into his crib. That's the reward of all the other menial tasks it takes to keep a boy in action. What a sweetheart.

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!!!

My little buddy is two years old today!!! What a little man! He is growing and changing; right now he is really saying a lot. He got a new tricycle for his birthday from Grandma and Granddaddy Beery, and that is VERY special to him to have his own "back-ee" (bike). We are going to have a birthday party for him tommorrow with Tim's college friends.

This morning I went to work at 6:45 AM after waking up 3 times during the night; once, to find water for the wailing child and to pee, another time to pee, and, oh yes, another time TO PEE. One of the joys of pregnancy. After hitting the snooze button about 27 times, I waddled in blearily and devoutly unchipperlike to work.

I had a hilarious withdrawl patient. When I asked him if he could tell me where he was, he asked "Now do you want that in beats per minute?" After I blinked a bit bewilderedly and said "Can you tell me what place you are in?", he nodded knowingly and informed me that he plays soccer, and sometimes he hits the ball with his head. That answered all of my questions regarding orientation...

Then I had another lady tell me that I look more pregnant than 30 weeks, and she can't see me making it the whole way. Which I agree with, thank you very much. Today I was watching this computer animation of a cross section of a pregnany woman with a baby in her uterus, and happily viewed the 30 week depiction...and then watched in mounting horror exactly how much bigger that baby had to get, and how much more stretched out one's belly could become. It was a bit disheartening. I am definitely already bigger than I was with Gabriel - and the baby only weighs 3 pounds right now!! More like 8. I was a bit spoiled with the 5 pound 9 oz baby Gabe was, all wrapped up in a first pregnancy belly, and arriving 3 weeks early. Sigh.

So after shuffling tiredly through my day, I arrived home to find a wee boy who hadn't fallen asleep until 6 PM and was ready to play!!! Oh, man. Tim wondered tonight where the third parent was. The one who sleeps all day and then takes care of him when we're tired. Now that, my dears, is a very good question. Where indeed?

Little Buddy

I was trying to put Gabe in the bathtub last night, and he was vigorously protesting, which is kind of unusual. I set him back down on the ground, and he carefully walked out of the bathroom with his wet little feet, sat down on his baby potty in the hallway, (which he still hasn't been potty-trained on, due to busy mommies), concentrated, and peed a nice little arc onto the floor. Which was just fine, because we were so impressed with him using the potty!!

In other news, I thought he was so cute the other night - he careened into the bathroom and hurt his toes and sat grouchily on the floor. When I asked him if he was ok, he said "ennnnhhh - piggies!!" :) It was precious. Poor little piggies...

Football Fan

I came out to the living room tonight and noticed Gabriel busy with all sorts of full body movements. When I changed the channel from the football that was on, and he protested, I realized that I was interrupting his very own personal football game. Sure enough, when I switched it back, he went into all sorts of copy-cat moves. When the teams would go into the whatchamacallit where they kind of squat down on the line of scrimmage waiting for the ball to be hiked, he would bend his little chubby knees and stick his arms straight down between his legs, and then when they would hike the ball, he would take off running furiously around the living room and fall over with legs still pumping and arms still whirling and spin around in place - packing as much movement in as possible. Absolutely adorable!!! I just sat there and watched him and grinned. He had a great time.

I have to go back to work tommorrow, two 12 hour days on, after all these days off in a row, and have been on a mental vacation today. As in "hello? Anyone home?" Tim has been very kind to me and done some of my errands, and washed and diapered the wee child that has been churning oh-so-energetically around the house today. Oh, man, that kid takes energy!!!! Just thinking of how much energy makes me once more collapse into a chair and stare blankly at the wall. I think all those successive weeks of overtime and achiness have sent me into a storing-up of emotional readiness for exhaustion, and I just can't do much else other than zone out. I'm not planning on really working much, if any, overtime this month, though. Hopefully. I did make a good supper today, to my credit, however, including luscious rice krispy bars. Mmmm.

To Colorado and back again

Tim, Gabe, and I went to Estes Park, CO with my parents and Quentin from July 29-August 6 for Tim to go to Music in the Rockies. We had a great time. Gabe thoroughly enjoyed his time with his grandparents and his uncle Quentin, and he learned new words like "elk" and "chip-buck" (chipmunk). Gabriel also went to the zoo for the first time in Denver, where everyone responsible wished they had their own stroller to be shuttled around in. Gabe did great flying, also. Basically the only trouble we had came when the tray-tables had to be pushed back up for landing, and he was denied a driving-car/coloring-book-supporter surface. He even fell asleep both times flying, which was wonderful.

These pictures of are the Hat Boys. Gabriel really enjoyed wearing his hat like Granddaddy. It was so cute!

Speedy Gonzales

After supper last night, I wandered out to the living room to collapse on the couch while Busy Boy stayed in the kitchen. Tim went to check on him after hearing a spoon clink, and removed the whipped cream from his reach, minus a few tasty spoonfuls. A suspicious silence followed, and I headed out there myself, only to meet him speeding out busily; often you can tell the industriousness of his alone time by the speed of his exit...sure enough, the entire new bottle of ranch dressing was neatly emptied into a bowl on the table. That child sure gets things done.

Just Gotta Love This Kid....

Crab Apples

Today little Crab Apple crabbed and crabbed when I went to get him up from his nap. He tossed himself crankily back and forth on the floor, fussing and groaning, until I finally figured out he wanted to go back into his crib. He hustled right up to his pillow and crabbed for his blankets, and then asked for milk. Whereupon he lounged back and drank his milk, and I left him alone for another 15 minutes. Then he was ready to get up. Silly boy.













I'm feeling rather crabby myself. I am so much achier with this pregnancy than with Gabriel. My body calls these "timeouts" on me - here I am productively trundling along on my day off, getting some good stuff done, and one leg says to one pelvis "Say, Bob, you ready for a break?" And Bob agrees, and they walk me off to a chair and sit me down, protesting. Seriously, I have mental energy, but my body says "Um, OK, you're done." It's a little frustrating. I know you're supposed to "listen to what your body is telling you" - but I have so much stuff to get done!!!! Today was my day off after 4 days of work and a Sunday (Sundays are pretty non-productive, with church and naps), and I was telling Tim how working so much leaves me feeling sort of agitated on my days off, like I have to cram in relaxation, time with Gabriel, and productivity. And, as Tim put it, you can either relax OR spend time with Gabriel. But I had a good mix of all three today, because I actually had energy - which was nice. My last pregnancy, I was like - what is everybody talking about, "feeling miserable"? This time I'm like - Errrrrr - I have how many more months?

One more thing about Gabe - he absolutely LOVES a DVD Tim bought him called "The Adventures of Milo and Otis". He refers to it as "woo-woo, kie-kie" Milo is a cat, and Otis is a pug dog, and they have all sorts of adventures with all sorts of animals, with all sorts of cheesy dialogue. But he is fascinated. He provides a running commentary "ohh, man.....oh, fah (fall)...wah (water)" Gabe's current concept of imminent danger is the threat of falling. The possibility of something falling is the "oh man!!!" of his existence. The tension!! The uncertainty!! The kitty might fall, and we are on pins and needles.

Lynette, by the way, I showed Gabriel the last newsletter from you and Rusty that we got in the mail, and Gabe is totally into the picture on the front with all the little Thai children. He had a full conversation about it today - I don't think I really understood anything, but he had plenty to say, nonetheless. We reminded him about Aunt Lynette and Uncle Rusty...so he should be a little clued in next time he sees you. :)

A Month Later... :)

Weeelll...it's been a long time. This has been a very busy month!!! I have been working overtime while Tim has a month off of school to try to get ahead in preparation for this baby coming up here soon. In about 3 weeks, I will already be in my third trimester - it goes so fast!! The baby is growing good - I am measuring bigger with this one than with Gabe, so I'm curious how much bigger he will be.

Gabe is just a' sproutin' up. He is such a little solid chunk now. He is just saying new words all over the place. He still loves his "dwum" - his drumsticks.

These next two pictures are two Mom sent me that I thought were so cute - this was Dad and Gabe getting ready to go on a final golf-cart ride one night; Gabe sort of NEEDS to go on those rides when he is there - he is rather insistent upon it! I liked the hats, myself.

















This is Gabe and Emmy standing in the window at Mom and Dad's when we were there over Easter. Gabe knows all about Emmy, and talks about her when he sees her picture. I think that's cute.

This last picture is from last week - we spent about a day and a half with Grandpa Norm and Grandma Carol. This was some quality time with Grandma Carol while Gabriel gave it his best to fit in that little doll chair. He liked that chair over Christmas, and still likes it, although he barely fits. But he will WORK to make it fit. The bench, ennhhh - just isn't the same, see.

FINALLY - The Gatlinburg pictures!!

I finally finished editing my Gatlinbug post. I just gave up and put the pictures on that I could, and come see me to see the rest. :) You have to go back to June 4, "Gabriel's Adventures in Gatlinburg" to see the pictures.

Pizzum and Bye-Bye

Gabriel has really hit a new verbal peak recently. Lots of new words keep coming up, and he often remembers something to repeat after only hearing it a few times. We had frozen pizza the other night, and wowsers, did he like that pizza. He ate a whole slice, which is a lot for a little tummy like his, and then he turns to me with his bowl in hand, tomato sauce smeared all over his face, and asks for "Pizzum? Pizzum?" Yogurt is "go-gu". Fly and butterflies and ladybugs are "fie". Airplane is "Ennnnhhh" (that's an airplane flying through the sky). TV is "tee-gee". He also has just recently captured the whole "ot" (hot) and "ach-ee" (ouchie) scenario too. Ohhhh - and the beloved drumsticks are "dwum". Guitar is "gak-ee".

The other aDORable thing he does is tell everything bye-bye on his way to bed, or when he is leaving it. He takes his little hand and opens and shuts it to wave. I was taking him for his afternoon nap the other day after lunch and took him into the kitchen to kiss Tim nighty-night, and he goes "bye-bye chickie" (we had chicken for lunch). "Bye-bye tea" (we had tea, too). "Bye-bye tea." "Bye-bye, tea." "Bye-bye, cah" (We passed his push car in the living room). "Bye-bye tea". "Bye-bye tea." It is absolutely precious to hear him. It is a helpful routine, though. It helps him to go to bed, because he likes to say bye-bye.

Yesterday I had Gabriel in the bathtub and was standing in the bathroom door talking to Tim, and I look back and see Gabriel take this flying leap on his stomach over the side of the tub and slide to a stop on the bathroom floor. Not quite the landing he had imagined. He's a slippery little seal in the tub.

One other helpful routine we have found involves brushing his teeth. Gabriel used to HATE to brush his teeth, and I wasn't sure why. I thought it might have to do with the toothpaste, so I switched toothpaste, but no difference. I finally decided it was because he knew it signified that he was going to bed. But it was kind of a traumatic experience every single night - he would cry and scream and screech and hold his mouth shut. THEN, one fateful night Tim brought out his Oral-B spinny whirry toothbrush...and all has been peaches and cream, mixed with lots of anticipation since. He "brushes" with the whirry toothbrush, while I brush with his normal toothbrush. And everybody is happy. Phew. What a relief that is!

Wow, what a week! Last weekend, the weekend of the 9th-11th, Mom and Dad and Quentin came out from VA to visit and help ready our house to sell, and we had a wonderful time, as usual, and got SO MUCH done!!!! The exterior looks awesome; we mulched and got the front window painted, and Quentin edged the flower bed. Dad took up the nasty old carpets in our bedrooms, and we have nice hardwood in there now that was under the carpets. Mom helped me get the kitchen ready – it was just SO productive.

















Little Blue-Eyes with his Grandma


















Cuddle-books with Granddaddy














Buddy Boy and his Uncle Quentin

THEN, the same Sunday they left, I drove to Ohio to meet my ol’ pal Candice (Rhodes) Mast, and we drove together to Goshen, IN to see Carmen Rhodes-Showalter so we could spend some quality friend time together before Candice leaves for 3 years in Thailand in August, and Carmen for five years in Morocco in December(?). My friends are gittin' around. We had a GREAT time, staying up very very late to jabber long into the night.

I came back on Tuesday evening, and we left Wednesday morning at about 5:45 AM to go to Flushing, OH for a series of chiropractor appointments for Gabriel, and came back Saturday evening. Phew. We had a good time in Ohio, though. This was the week of our fifth anniversary. Happy anniversary, us! The last 3 days we were in New Philadelphia, OH, which was basically in Amish country – right near Holmes County.













Gabe and Daddy feeding the ducks and the nosy Canadian interlopers at Tuscawana Park in St. Clairesville, OH.

Wow. It has been “one of those days” at the Miller household today. My dear son child has been asking approximately CONSTANTLY to go “sauce”, which means to go outside, when we already went “sauce” earlier today and Mommy has things that she needs to get done inside, since Granddaddy and Grandma Beery and Quentin are coming to visit this weekend. So, while he’s not tearily asking to go “sauce” he is doing no-no things with his beloved drum-sticks, like hitting the already broken lampshade, giving the TV a good tap, and even an experimental tap to Mommy’s leg. All of these bad-boy ideas keep resulting in drumstick evacuation, which leads to lots of distressed screaming. Then there is the runs of “bann” said insistently and repeatedly, which neither Tim nor I have the vaguest idea of what in the world it means. When “bann” is not addressed, this is also quite distressing to the wee one, and leads to sad tears. When you ask him to “show Mommy”, he points vaguely at nothing and fusses. And Daddy has been gone all day for class, even over supper. MEANWHILE, I have been trying literally for hours, over the past several days, to upload the Gatlinburg pictures from our trip to Tennessee with Norm and Carol, and the computer takes at least 15 minutes a picture, and often times out, or says that it has loaded, and then the picture won’t appear, so you have to go through the whole process all over again…or the site won’t even load due to “technical problems”. It is absolutely maddening. And you would think I might just quit, or use just the pictures I have uploaded, but I have this obsessively perfectionistic streak when it comes to this blog, and ImustImustImust get all the pictures on there that I wanted on there. And then I’m trying to pick up Tim’s office, which has these random piles of old class papers that somehow he never manages to get sorted and I’m left trying to figure out what he wants to save, and what to do with them, not to mention 600 back issues of guitar magazines whose continued existence are somehow imperative to the survival of mankind (not that Dear Husband ever decides on a good place to put them other than random scatterings), and Gabriel keeps walking through and rescattering CD cases that I have repicked up about 4,000 times and I will just tell you that my eyes are taking on a permanently crossed position and my hair is standing on end and I am developing an agitated tremor. Ok, not really, but I’m close. If the next time you see me I have a nervous twitch in my shoulder, and an ongoing tic in my eye…you can just nod knowingly and pat me gently and direct me down the hall to my nice padded room. Twitch.

Praise the Lord, Tim just pulled into the drive. Sanity is mine. At least a while longer.

It's a Boy!!!

So we got our news today! It's a boy! I was not at all surprised - I've just felt exactly like I did with Gabriel pregnancy-wise. Everything looked very good on the echo. He weighs an estimated 14 oz, which is right on target. He was moving around, and currently has his head up and his butt down. Gabriel enjoyed the ultrasound too, and could see the baby form, as he talked about it.

















This is the 4-D image of his face and his hand in front of it. I think that the umbilical cord is what is framing his face.














Side view of Munchkin II.















Follow the arrow for all the crucial information.... :)

Gabriel's Adventures in Tennessee

From May 21-28, we went to Tennessee with Norm and Carol, basically to go to the Gaither Family Fest that last weekend, but also just to spend some family time together. We had a great time. Gabriel really enjoyed seeing Grandpa Norm and Grandma Carol again.













This is from when we went to the Ripley's Aquarium. Gabriel really enjoyed seeing all of the "shish".













Grandma, Grandpa, and Gabe enjoying some cuddle-time during supper.














Down-down-down with the grandparents.













"Horsing" around. (man, was that a good joke, or what?)













The Black Bear Jamboree we went to see. Gabriel enjoyed the entire 2 hour thing, which is REALLY something to say!!

This picture below is the cool hotel we stayed at on our last night. This was the view inside from the 10th floor.
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Tuckered out after some hard vacationing...What a sweetheart.

Books

This morning Gabriel was in a book reading mood. As in "mommy-read-books" mood. Mommy was in a "vegitate-zombie-like-on-the-couch-while-yawning-hugely" mood. But I always try to read to him when he asks, so... Several renditions of "Oh, David!" and "Mr. Brown can MOO, can you?" and "Babytalk" later, I was ready for a change of book scenery. Gabriel likes to read the same book repeatedly. Try this out for fun: "Splish-splash. Nice dolly. Toesies. Mine. Yum-yum. Tickle-tickle. Doggy. Kiss. Sleepy-bye. Peekaboo. Look. Pat-a-cake. All gone. Upsy-daisy. Bye-bye." Mmmmm. Makes you just want to settle down with a good baby book, huh?

So I revved up my keister and decided to push Gabe to the library in the jogging stroller. Let's just say this mommy is a mite out of shape. I huffed and I puffed and got that quarter-mile completed. :) Gabe liked the library. I haven't taken him for a while, because he likes familiar books usually better.

So guess which one of the 13 or so books he wanted to read 5 times in a row after we got back? What Do Trucks Do? "The loader picks up and carries. The backhoe can dig and dig. The dump truck loads and unloads. The tractor trailer carries a rig. The bull-dozer pushes things out of its way. The mixer can spin and pour. The crane can reach high places. Trucks do all this - and more!" Huge yawn. I'm going back to the zombie-like stance on the couch now. Wake me if any intellectual stimulation comes my way...

Sick Baby

Well, potty training is off for today - Gabriel and I had to skip church yesterday because he was sick (croupy cough, fever, lethargic), and we missed getting the "doll-baby-that-pees". :) I might wait until Gabe is a bit more back to normal, too. He's mostly there, but still a bit off.

We had a fun Saturday night. We went to McDonald's to let Gabriel play on the playland, but unfortunately the playland is outside and it was rainy and cold. So we just enjoyed some oh-so-healthy morsels of food, and then we went to Graeter's for ice-cream with Tim's friends Jon and Sam. Gabriel really enjoyed that ice-cream experience. He was pretty lethargic, with his fever, but happy to be held. Then we went to the pet store so Gabe could see all the "wish" (fish) and birds and mice and gerbils and "woo-woo's" (doggies) and "kie-kie's". He really liked that a lot.

This morning I thought it was funny, because I put a kid's CD on for Gabriel, with lots of songs like "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands", and "Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around, teddy bear teddy bear touch the ground", etc. that you can do movements to, and so I was jumping all around shaking my foot and running around the cobbler's bench and all that, and Gabe was sitting on the couch with this appalled look on his face, like "what in the world has taken over my mother..??" :) :)

Here's another cutie-pie picture...

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama Edith and Mama Carol!! We love and appreciate both of you very much!!!

Cute Little Critter

I found Gabriel the other day in our bedroom quietly devouring a stray Dove chocolate egg he had found laying around. He was absolutely COVERED in chocolate - on his feet, his legs, his outfit, and his face. Into the bath he went!!! This was him pre-bath. :)

This was from a busy bath yesterday. He was having a great time.

I gave him his night-time milk last night and found him in our bedroom in the clothesbasket, all snuggled down and drinking his milk. :) Silly boy...

Well, I currently have a little naked boy racing happily around the house. Today he has decided that he doesn’t like even a slightly wet diaper, and is ready to take it off all by himself. I’m thinking that boy, do I ever want to get this child potty-trained. I’m not sure if he is quite ready yet, though, because he is still kind of resistant to sitting on command. I need to read my Potty Training In A Day book.

Otherwise, life goes on as usual. The other week, Sweetheart Child opened the lid of a 20 oz. bottle of baby shampoo, and joyfully dumped 19 oz. onto his floor. And that was how I discovered him. Oh. My. Goodness. He is totally into taking lids off of any sort of item and promptly dumping any liquid he discovers. He loves to pour liquids from container to container, during which approximately 10-20% of the liquid remains contained and the rest finds freedom on the floor.

He is a happy little boy. He is currently into talking about “kie-kie’s” (kitty-kitties). There have been friendly neighbor cats prowling around recently, that let him pet them, to his utter joy and delight.














He doesn’t get so lucky with Chloe-dog. :) She’s had one too many episodes of the “scrunch-doggy’s-fur” game.

He is also saying “milk” in an absolutely hilariously adorable way: “gahhkkkkk”. The “kkkk” involves lots of back in the throat saliva. Shoes and juice are still “boose”. Diaper is “boppy”. Apple is "ahbeee"

Pregnancy is going well. I had another doctor’s visit today. I am 17 weeks now, I believe. We have an ultrasound next time we go to find out what we are having.

Tim has one more week of school left for this semester. He is done on May 18. So he is working diligently on guitar. Ahem. Exactly what is wrong with that picture? :) In other music news, however, I have started playing drums again at church, which I thoroughly enjoy.


















Gabe has this fascination with socks...













This is the bush in the back of our house. It gets so pretty in spring.

Till later…